


alone on open water

by alderations



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Confessions, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Other, be gay do crimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 18:38:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17627531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alderations/pseuds/alderations
Summary: He was usually controlled from head to toe, always well within the persona he’d set for himself, but—Peter Nureyev, the real one, was afraid, and he couldn’t ignore it.





	alone on open water

“Nureyev. That is not what I would have expected.” Jet broke the silence with his usual calm, and Peter’s left eye twitched. He was usually controlled from head to toe, always well within the persona he’d set for himself, but—Peter Nureyev, the real one, was afraid, and he couldn’t ignore it. Besides, if his enemies and allies alike underestimated him, that made it that much easier to disappear when the time came.

If the man pointing one trembling finger at him heard Jet, he didn’t show it. “You! You, you fucking—you—twenty years of searching and you just show up on our fucking doorstep like—”

That was all the time Vespa needed to sneak around him and shut him up, and then the man slumped to the floor with blood oozing from his throat and anger still simmering in his empty eyes. Juno made a sound halfway between a grumble and a gag. This was a less-than-ideal situation, since they had intended to be in and out of the Northstar offices without leaving a trace, much less a body count. Then again, a six-person team wasn’t ideal for that kind of stealth, anyway.

As soon as the man let out one last gurgle, an alarm started blaring directly behind Peter. He kept his calm, of course, but Juno jumped, and the six of them decided at once that it was too late for their plan; their only hope was to run. So they did. They weren’t far from the exit, anyway, where the RUBY7 sat waiting with its gentle whistles and endless wisdom, but Peter made sure to keep an eye on Juno and Rita to ensure that they both kept up. Rita was speedy for such an impossibly tiny person, but Juno, well. He was just peculiarly ungifted when it came to running.

Jet took out one last door with a massive shoulder, and there she was: their beautiful, immaculate, brilliant car, doors thrown open and engine revving. It wasn’t easy to fit all six of them inside the car. In the chaos of cramming themselves into seats and zipping away from the scene of the crime before it was too late, Peter ended up—unintentionally, he swore up and down—in Juno’s lap, with Juno’s burly arms holding him down like a warm, electrifying seat belt. He would have enjoyed the moment more thoroughly, were it not for the shock bubbling in his throat from being… recognized.

The silence lasted, while everyone caught their breath, until Buddy parked the RUBY7 and closed the ship’s hatch behind them. With the car off and the spaceship rising steadily into the atmosphere, however, Peter had nowhere left to hide.

Buddy turned to him first, after she finished setting the ship’s destination, and crossed her arms over her chest with a shrewd look in her good eye. “So,” she started, “Brahma, hmm?”

In retrospect, Peter realized that they had no reason to believe that  _ Nureyev  _ wasn’t just another alias. It wasn’t that unusual for people to recognize him, usually with a shout and promises of violence, just like that particular thug. But Buddy, Jet—everyone in this crew was too quick, and somehow, they had seen the genuine fear spark in his eyes. Either that, or they knew enough Outer Rim history to put the pieces together. “I… Yes. I am, in fact, Peter Nureyev. At your service.” His voice trembled a bit, too small for anyone else to notice, but to Peter, it felt as if the galaxy were collapsing around his throat.

There wasn’t much difference between one person and five, but in this line of work, that could mean everything. And it did, when it came to Juno, to what he’d given, what he’d taken, the trust and love that ran so deep in his heart that he—

“Nureyev?”

Juno was at his side, voice low, one hand barely fluttering against the small of his back. For once, Peter couldn’t tell if his emotions were that obvious, or if Juno just knew him that well. “I’m alright,” he murmured, looking down into Juno’s eye. “I’m—perhaps we should have expected this. Dictatorial regimes think alike, yes?”

“Hmph.” Juno looked more troubled, but he shook his head after a moment and trained his eye on Peter again. “This still changes what we’re dealing with.”

“Yes, it… does.” Peter sighed, drawing out his last few moments of relative anonymity, before turning to the group as a whole again. “I believe I have some information about our enemies that would benefit us all, in that case.”

He meant to keep it simple and professional, but even for him, it was so hard to keep the past locked up where it belonged when Buddy had him pinned down with the shrewd concern in her gaze. At first, he recounted New Kinshasa, the Guardian Angel System, and his own hand in freeing the streets of Brahma—but then he got tangled up in those streets again, and he faltered. Juno filled in the gaps, at least what he knew. And with Juno’s hand barely brushing his back, his voice rumbling alongside Peter’s when he most needed it, the fear began to wash away. Just began, but still. It was easy enough to slip his unaffected mask back into place.

Buddy believed him, to his surprise, and he could tell that she was genuine as she grasped his shoulder with one hand. “I’m sorry to see your past come back to bite you like this, but I think we should be much better prepared from here. Thank you, Mr. Nureyev.”

“Peter is fine,” he responded, wincing at how small his voice sounded.

She shook her head, but didn’t answer, instead walking back toward the front of the ship with Vespa at her elbow in an instant. Rita and Jet were already debating the technological weaknesses of a floating city, which left Peter and Juno to their own devices, as much as they could be on this ship. Without a word, they both turned toward the sleeping quarters. Juno’s hand brushed against Peter’s once, twice, and finally Peter tangled their fingers together and squeezed.

“I’m sorry,” Juno mumbled.

Peter stopped in his tracks, which only lasted for a moment before Juno tugged him along again, stubborn as ever. “What for?”

“Not—not like, anything I did, just—I can tell… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you scared before.”

“I was very afraid when you were  _ bleeding  _ out of your  _ eyeball  _ after Miasma tortured you,” Peter countered, low and serious.

Juno huffed and rolled his eye. “I was fine! Okay, I know, I wasn’t, but you… whatever. I can’t imagine how you feel right now, and I want to—I want to help.”

“You already did.” He never wanted Juno to feel like he wasn’t enough, but he was still so terrified, of losing what he had now, of being dragged back to the streets and back to Mag and back to all the lies and confusion and… away from Juno, mostly. Peter felt cheated. He could have any jewel in the world if he so desired, but the gift that he gave Juno on the night they first met was something he could never have back. It wasn’t just Juno’s anymore, and the taste of his name in other mouths was all too bitter.

At that moment, they got to their room and collapsed onto the bed in synchrony; Juno was likely exhausted, and Peter just wanted to be close to him. “I trust everyone here quite a lot, all things considered,” whispered Peter. “My name was a gift for you, Juno, and that meant the world to me.”

“I know,” Juno replied. Their knees knocked together as they settled into each other’s space, Peter’s head pillowed against Juno’s chest so that he could fill his senses with the overpowering smell of Juno. Sweaty Juno, given all the running, but Peter didn’t mind. Catharsis washed over him as the rest of the world drifted away.

Juno was what mattered. Even in the face of a potential Martian apocalypse, Juno came first. He could live with all of it, given Juno’s warmth all around him.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a hypothesis. 1 million extra residents of New Town, and the parallels of Northstar's shady business with Nureyev's past? Suspicious. So I decided to explore that.
> 
> I feel like this is kinda ooc, honestly, since Peter is so unfazed by everything all the time, but I think if his past came back to bite him in the ass, it'd make a difference. I wasn't gonna post this originally, but my boyfriend/beta convinced me. lol.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading at least; leave a comment if you'd like, it always makes my day!!!
> 
> (also I can't resist the endless pull of lowercase artsy melodramatic titles I'm so sorry)


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